Evolution begins with an ant colony

Chapter 322: Point Me In The Right Direction

The midday sun hung overhead, casting its warm rays over the bustling cityscape below. Akun, now alone, slowly made his way through the bustling crowd, his silver hair and black silver armor glinting softly in the sunlight, his coat billowing slightly in the soft wind.@@@@

He scanned the area, looking for any strong warriors with his dragon eyes. Obviously, considering that the tournament was in its late stages, not all the warriors out here could possibly still be participating, so only the strongest of them would still be in.

"I guess asking around would be far faster than trying to look for someone manually like this," Akun mumbled, coming to a halt as he folded his hands, still gazing at the bustling crowd. "But who should I ask?" he wondered.

"Well, it doesn’t matter. It’s not like there would be a reason for them not to tell me who is still left participating in the tournament," he said, proceeding to let out a sigh, unfolding his arms, and now walking towards a lean-looking man with brown hair and brown eyes, who had a sheathed sword strapped to the leather belt at his waist.

The man stood before a wepon stand, and by the looks of it he was purchasing something.

As Akun got closer, he overheard an ongoing conversation. "Look, I understand that the dagger is made using mythril and was continuously polished so it could obtain this gleam. Everyone can agree that a lot of love and effort went into making this weapon."

The man with brown hair said, pausing to put the dagger back in its small black sheath. He then proceeded to add, his tone slowly rising due to his anger, "But selling it at three times the original price is... simply overkill!" He yelled at the end, clenching his left fist as he leaned in close to the dwarf who owned the stand.

"By Quandaln’s beard... where did you crawl out from?" The dwarf muttered in shock, his eyes widening as he gazed at Akun’s sheer size, feeling the pressure of his imposing aura.

For a moment, he was dazzled, but being the dwarf that he was, the next thing his eyes landed on was Akun’s armor. "And by whose hands were these fine pieces made? Aye, there ain’t a single sign of imperfection.

The way each piece seems to perfectly fit the other without any bulges or small spaces makes it look like it was made with magic somehow," he said, already leaving his stand to take a look at what Akun had on.

His eyes darted across piece to piece like he was some supercomputer doing a high speed analysis, his hands fidgeting with excitement.

He was about to lean in close and use his hands to get a feel of the equipment when Akun said, "I accept your compliments, but please, I would prefer it if you didn’t touch me. Besides, this is beside the reason I came here. If you can’t help me, I would love to be on my way to someone else who can." He narrowed his gaze slightly.

"Ahem." The dwarf pretended to clear his throat as he calmed down. He then said, "Sorry for how I acted. I was simply caught in the moment. Now, you were asking to be pointed in the direction where you can find someone still participating in the tournament that you can challenge. Obviously, you want their spot to face the knight captain at the end, right?" The dwarf narrowed his gaze.

Akun then said, "That is none of your concern. You simply need to point me in the right direction. No need for all this talk," Akun said, sounding rather cold for some reason. The dwarf narrowed his gaze as he shot back a silent intense look at Akun. The young lad was being disrespectful. If not for the possibility of literally getting crushed underfoot if he got angry, he would have said something.

But then the dwarf simply let out a sigh and said, "If you are looking for anyone, you can find one at the Little Green Peak in the distance. There should be an elf lady still in the tournament, and she is the pride of her nation. I doubt you would be able to take her on, but you simply need directions, so that isn’t my problem," the dwarf said in a rather nonchalant tone.